The MMM Reading List

Since the Way of the Mustache involves reading a lot of books to constantly further your education, I thought it would be handy to keep track of books I’ve read, as well as reader recommendations, all in one place. They aren’t all personal finance titles, but the goal of this reading list is to build a rounded portfolio of knowledge for living a balanced and interesting life.

If you want to read any of these books, don’t just run out and buy them on Amazon. First have a look in your Library, and if that doesn’t work, see if you can find a nice used copy of the same book at a drastic discount at Better World Books.

Books I’ve read and Liked:

Investing and Finance

The Economist: For almost 20 years I’ve tuned into this advanced little magazine, because it has an intelligent, concise style of writing and a worldwide perspective. Instead of 30 days of casual browsing of the news, you can spend 1-2 hours per week enjoying Economist articles and end up light years ahead in financial and world knowledge. I especially like how they sneak lessons on classic economic principles into stories about current world markets.

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated)by Charles J. WheelanSimilar to Economics Explained, but with a more modern (and perhaps fiscally conservative) slant. This book’s claim to fame is that it uses absolutely no graphs or numbers when explaining economics. It’s also moderately funny at times. Charles Wheelan is a regular writer for The Economist magazine, which I really like.

The Simple Path to Wealthby J.L. Collins – a favorite among MMM readers because it teaches everything you really need to be a successful lifetime investor, yet it’s ridiculously simple.

A Random Walk Down Wall Streetby Burton Malkiel – a great explanation of why index investing rules, written by a very wise professor/investor guy who has personally researched and debunked most of the common “wisdom” that exists about stock trading today.

The Intelligent Asset Allocator – by William J Bernstein – examines the effects of mixing stocks, bonds, and other assets into your portfolio in different proportions. Explains that with very little effort, you can drastically reduce the volatility of your investments, even while maintaining the same level of overall returns.

Towards Rational Exuberance by B. Mark Smith – a well written history of the stock market dating back to the 1800s, which describes the old corrupt capitalists and mustachian heroes of old, the forming of the Federal reserve to stabilize the financial system, the conditions that led up to the great crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, the New Deal and securities act of 1932, and everything since then.

Crash Proof 2.0by Peter Schiff – an explanation of what caused the US financial and housing sector crash in 2008, which caused the Great Recession, the unemployment from which we are still stamping out here in 2012. The author also believes “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet”, and predicts a total collapse of the US dollar in the future, followed by hyperinflation in our country. I understand the points he makes, but I think he misses some fundamental counterpoints, so I don’t share at all in his predictions of doom and gloom.

The Little Book that Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt – describes a method of stock picking which has historically performed much better than the stock market as a whole. It’s really just a complicated form of value investing.

Your Money or Your Life – Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez and others – one of the Founding Documents of Mustachianism – explains that money is not for buying shit, it is for the purpose of attaining freedom.

Juliet Schor is a pretty clever economist. In this book, she combines sound economic theory and explanations, with a model for shifting the world to a sustainable level of natural resource consumption. The idea of Plenitude is that we can all end up happier and with more free time, while maintaining a fully functioning and efficient economy.

If I had to offer a criticism for the book, I’d say that Plenitude sounds an awful lot like Mustachianism, except with much more academic language and fewer bossy but useful directives for improving your own life. But it is a very nice book for understanding the market forces that can allow us to fix the ecological bind we’re in, without crashing the whole capitalist system that allows us to get things done so efficiently.

Borrow: The American Way of Debt by Louis Hyman

A historical perspective on how the use of debt has changed over the centuries and decades, most recently becoming a fast-moving tradable commodity. I expected this book to be just a values-based smackdown of how sucky we’ve all become, but luckily it was not, and instead it taught me some new things about the debt and financial industry. It brings both advantages and disadvantages to society, and it’s useful to know the difference.

World/Politics/History:

The Happy Cityby Charles Montgomery. An entertaining and mind-expanding book that will change the way you look at cities and, really, all of modern human life. See article.

The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley – a bit of a mind-blowing summary of the evolution of trade and human prosperity, from primates to iPhones. It argues compellingly that everything is not only going to be OK in the future, it is surely going to be Fucking Great. That much, I agree with.

But the brilliant author is also pretty gung-ho on factory farming and fossil fuels, and while I fully agree with his reasoning, I think he understates the downside of cheerful fossil fuel reliance and overstates the cost (and the trade-boosting benefits of developing) more renewable energy.

It’s a nuanced point to debate, but let’s put it this way: Ridley is perfectly happy to have us all buying whatever we want – trucks for personal transportation, 1000 gallons of gas per person per year, etc. Because trade is good! Each transaction benefits both sides! Unexpected side effects occur which enrich the poorest countries rapidly, the ones with the worst environmental standards!

But yet why not apply the same logic to using our great productivity to develop renewable energy – by creating voluntary consumer demand for renewable energy as a desirable luxury product? Lots of trade, technology transfer, and poor-country enrichment could be had – with few of the downsides of the Chevrolet Tahoe. Think voluntary changes in consumer behavior can’t be done? Mr. Money Mustache is proving otherwise.

The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria – a nice financial and political trot around the globe that explains the changes going on in the world as countries like China, Brazil and India collectively become larger economies than the US/Europe/Japan which have collectively dominated the world with their homogeneous way of doing things for the last century or so. Hint: while the US won’t be the only game in town anymore, it isn’t going anywhere or getting poorer. Instead, he uses the term “the rise of the rest”.

Not really a money book specifically, but an interesting exploration of living a rich life from a bunch of angles: philosophy, travel, wine, music, non-consumerism, etc. Significant because it was written by an ultra-rich investment manager. A bit bland because he doesn’t advocate any form of effort or badassity (how can you talk about a good life without even mentioning bikes once?!). But packed with useful life-enhancing wisdom nonetheless.

The book that finalized my desire to give away most of the money I earn over my lifetime to help eliminate third world poverty. see article.

Psychology (and its simpler cousin Pop Psych)

Nudge – on decision making

59 Seconds

The Power of Habit

Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs/etc.:

The Snowball by Alice Schroeder – this is the complete story of Warren Buffett’s life. (He’s old, so there are over 700 pages).

Tap Dancing to Work by Carol Loomis – the latest Giant Warren Buffett book. Rather than a story of his life, this one is more a collection of Fortune magazine stories about him and things he has written. While this book is less personal, it packs in a lot more financial wisdom instead.

Applied Math:

Struck by Lightning ..The curious world of probabilties, by Jeffrey Rosenthal – This book sums up my decision making process whenever anything is unknown. The basic idea is: understand how fun and useful probabilities and statistics are. Then USE them to avoid making unwise and expensive decisions out of fear, such as buying Rolex Watch insurance or driving an SUV instead of riding a bike for “safety” reasons while allowing an overweight physique to persist for decades.

General Science:

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins – an explanation of evolution since the beginning of life that explains things from the perspective of individual genes. It makes so much sense and is so brilliantly written, that it pretty much obliterates any mysteries as to why any living thing on Earth is the way it is – including humans with all of our fussy little needs and moods.

Health and Fitness:

Arnold’s Bodybuilding for Men – by Arnold, of course. Being a fairly stereotypical man, I enjoyed the manly perspective on fitness and strength training in this book. Arnold lays it out in a simple and inspirational way, and after reading this you will know how to work out properly, as well as having a nice lifelong motivation to do so. Why? Because the book points out that barbell exercise is by far the best and most efficient way to maintain ultimate health for a lifetime. The benefits gained for each minute you spend lifting weights are so huge, that they make every other exercise method irrelevant until you’ve taken care of the weight training first.

The Four Hour Body – by Tim Ferriss. A nutrition and exercise combo-pack that focuses on scientifically researched shortcuts to get more benefit out of less exercise. I have successfully applied some stuff from this book with great results: eliminating most grains and eating a lower-carb/high-fat diet allowed me to effortlessly become leaner than I’ve ever been. And focusing on the downward portion of every barbell movement, stretching it out and making it insanely intense, instead of worrying about doing more reps, has allowed me to gain or maintain muscle with only two short workouts per week.

Starting Strength – By Mark Rippetoe – a meat’n’potatoes summary of what everyone should do to make the biggest improvements in fitness and strength in minimal time. Squats, deadlifts, bench presses, clean and presses, and pullups – that’s it. Put your best effort into them whether you are a pre-teen lad or a great grandmother , and watch all your yoga/pilates/fancy health club friends get blown away by your far-superior results!

Sculpting her body Perfect – Brad Schoenfeld

Similarly, Mrs. M. enjoyed the way a similar body of knowledge was presented in this book. It’s all about tailoring the message to the audience.

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dreamby Adam Shepard (Paperback)

What Technology Wants

by Kevin Kelly (Paperback)

Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment, and Your Soulby James Livingston (Hardcover) <— need to read this one just because the title sounds so evil!!

More recent reader recommendations from the “Book List” article comments:

The Investment Answer by Gordon Murray and Dan Oldie. A very short and direct primer that can be read in one sitting. Mr. Murray started the book with Mr. Oldie six months before he died, and was one of the researchers behind Dimensional Fund Advisors. More information at http://www.theinvestmentanswerbook.com/index.html.

7 Laws of Money by Mike Phillips

The Richest Man in Babylon – available for free here. The keys to wealth, laid out in an an old-time parable. Could use a contemporary rewriting, though, as the ancient prose can be thick and gluey at times.

Gardening books:

How to Grow More Vegetables: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine by John Jeavons [Currently reading, recommended by Jacob]

All new square foot gardening: grow more in less space! by Mel Bartholemew [a contrasting strategy to the first book, good intro to gardening for beginners]

Return of the Great Depression by Vox Day are both great for getting a grasp on what [may] be happening in the world of finance and economics over the next few years. One foresees inflationary outcomes, and the other deflationary.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – Stoic philosophy at its best…. Available for free via Project Gutenberg.

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. From 1990 to 1998 she wrote a newsletter showing people how to save money by doing many small things (like washing baggies out and re-using them). This is all the newsletters in one place. Some of the info is outdated, but most is timeless. It is especially good for people spendthrifts who did not grow up with a culture of saving (like our grandparents from the depression).

Fail Safe Investing by Harry Browne. This little book will introduce you to his permanent portfolio concept, which by the way is 25% stocks, 25% bonds, 25% gold and 25% cash and his 17 golden rules of financial safety. I’m also reading his book “How to Live Free in an Unfree World”. He’s written numerous books on investing and libertarian views.

Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When The Stakes Are High It has great advice for business and personal conversations.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots: Gardening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy

The Case for the Only Child by Susan Newman (I haven’t read this one yet, but have read her previous book “Parenting an Only Child: The Joys and Challenges of Raising Your One and Only”. I’m assuming this is an updated version of that book)

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won’t Get from Your Financial Advisor by Ernie J. Zelinski (easy, fun read for those who need inspiration)

Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning, from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomas Sedlacek

How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle Charles Long. It was the book that started my financial journey, and my first eye opener that you have other options in life besides the standard path of school-career-retire-die

The Other Path by Hernando De Soto. The book chronicles the informal economy in Peru in the 1980s. It sounds incredibly boring. It’s not. It is hands down, the best book I’ve ever read on how free markets and capitalism can begin to develop.

…has some excellent stuff for free, but viewer beware, it’s full of conspiracy theories and propaganda. It’s up to the intelligent viewer to assess;. But we know the readers of MMM are intelligent. There are some good ones.

My other favorite “Listen-to’s” is NPR’s “Planet Money” and “Freakonomics’

PBS is great too, For example is Nova; “Mind over money”

The Myth of the Rational Market a fun read that gives a history of economics thinking about markets especially the efficient market hypothesis.

Wow I see you have on your “to read list” The Intelligent Investor, Fooled by randomness, and The Black Swan. Have read all three in the last half year and was totally engrossed by all three of them. Fooled by randomness opened my eyes a lot on the investing side as I come from a finance background and it exposed fallacies that we were taught at university. Benjamin Graham is just the doyen of investing, not more to be said really and The Black Swan smashes the Efficient Market Hypothesis. Don’t worry, your index investing is still safe as Benjamin Graham will attest to.

I’d like to recommend Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World. A fantastic read that encourages everyone to practice skepticism, question all your assumptions, and use scientific thinking to make more intelligent decisions. I thought it was in line with the way of the Mustache. I’ll be reading more of Dr. Sagan’s works. Learning about the Universe really makes one feel small and has a way of humbling me to live a more honest and simple life.

Elizabeth Warren and her daughter’s book, “All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan” is good for getting a budget and savings going, paying down debt, etc. It recommends tying up a maximum of 50 percent of income in “must-haves” and “must-pays,” like mortgage or rent, basic food, locked-in service contracts and loans. It includes worksheets and could be a good stepping stone for people who eventually want to follow the MMM ethos of saving 50 to 75 percent of your income, but need something less far-reaching in the interim. It also tackles how the economy has changed since our grandparents’ days and how credit is rigged to create debt slaves. It also lays out strategies to deal with emotional spending, and a lot of other useful information for people working to get out of debt and start saving.

Hello MMM! Thank you for ruining how I thought life worked by your writing… In the electronic sense, I cannot “put this blog down,” and I have been completely worthless at my job recently because I realize now that I don’t need to work as long as I expected! I just keep wanting to read more and more about the Mustachian way.

ANYWAYS, you mention “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner” above as being a good starting point for those wanting to learn abount investing in single family rental properties, but you also say that it’s “not entirely Mustachian in nature.” Do you have any additional book reccomendations on the topic of rental homes… perhaps some that might be more in line with the badass mustachian perspective? I’ve read all your articles on the subject, but I am looking for more information.

For your recommendation on The Economist magazine, it would be doubly relevant to mention that most North American libraries will have a copy of the most recent issue and that some will even have electronic copies available for library card holders.

This is true! Even in Canada, you can get your hands on a recent copy of The Economist for FREE at your local library! You do not even need a membership card. You simply need to walk in and start reading the magazine. It’s always available there, sometimes they even have 2 copies.

A while back, I read in of your blogs a recommendation from you about a book on the integrity of craftsmanship and the return of it to our modern day. Unfortunately, after I received the book ordered through amazon, the package got lost during a move. Now I can’t remember the title, and I’m having trouble finding it on your site. If you remember the book title, please let me know. Thank you ever so !

“Stop acting rich: And start living like a real millionaire.” By Thomas Stanley. The same author as The Millionaire Next Door. Excellent book on how the net millionaires spend, save, and invest compared to the high income, high spending aspirationals. The theme goes perfectly with this blog.

I think you would enjoy the quick read The Education of T.C. MITS by Dr. Lilian Leiber. It was written in the 40’s and very popular amongst GIs. It’s main premise is don’t be intimidated, everyone can be a bad ass at math, and why you should care to learn math anyway.

Any recommendations for super beginner investors? I understand budgeting and why to save. I just need a better foundation of investing. I feel like I am missing some crucial knowledge in my learning and don’t quite know where to go from here. Some things I read are too advanced for my current level of knowledge of investing and saving, others are too basic. I recently read The Wealthy Barber, but didn’t agree with a majority of it. I also finished Rich Dad, Poor Dad and found it helpful.

Clearly, I’m engaging in a blatant ad hominem, but since his father was essentially bat shit crazy, I have a hard time taking Peter Schiff seriously. Of course, I realize that the merits of the argument itself is the litmus test by which to judge it.

Another great book on psychology is ‘Constructive Wallowing: How to Beat Bad Feelings by Letting Yourself Have Them’. It has so many golden pieces of info that, at least from what I’ve read, is rarely in personal development books. It’s a must read.

May I add, “Small is Beautiful” by Schumacher? Seems right up your alley. A bit dated, but a classic with a lot of overlapping themes with your philosophy. You’d get a kick out of the chapter “Buddhist Economics.”

I’d like to add John Seymour’s The New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency – The Classic Guide for realists and dreamers. Published by DK. It is a great book to dip in and out of and includes information on all sorts of things from how to kill a pig (make sure he has no idea what is about to happen!) to making the most of the sun, to how to brew beer and wine and gardening advice. A must read for any Mustachian!

I have just read a Random Walk Down Wallstreet and The Intelligent Asset Allocator at your behest. Great reading! Many Thanks. I have all my net worth tied up in about 5 percent single stocks, and the majority in Vanguard’s S&P 500 Index Roth IRA and my employer’s similar Index fund in a retirement account. (I just put another 5 percent of my investment money in the Vanguard emerging market index as that is the only place where I saw some value as the S&P is almost at record highs again.) .After consuming your website post The New Yorker fame, you about have me convinced to switch from the good old S&P to the VTI Total Market Index. Should I do this when the market is high or the market is low or does it matter not a wit? How far does this get me toward diversification? How many Index funds should I own and what kind? Until reading the Bernstein book, I had always assumed I would avoid bond fund until I actually retired. Also, after I get up to say 550000 and I start drawing my 4% a year, what should my portfolio look like? I can’t wait to dig into some of these other books.

This is a really great list of recommendations. Thanks! I’m a new Mustachian and also a new home owner, but I know very little about DIY maintenance and how to take care of things around the home. Do you have any books you would recommend for home maintenance and improvement?

Dear MMM,
Have you read anything by Nick Offerman? He is fantastic and seems very in tune with Mustachianism. “Paddle Your Own Canoe” and “Gumption” are great, and he also has a fun book about his woodworking shop and exploits therein. Check him out!

I just finished a book called Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Dr Henry Lodge. It is a perfect read for guys getting past forty, starting to slow down and inching towards retirement. My doctor recommended it to me (and about 500 others, apparently) and I can see why. It gives a recipe to staying young, explains the science of aging and notes that decay is not a requirement!

“The Antidote: happiness for people who can’t stand positive thinking” by Oliver Burkeman.

That book sparked a rabbit hole of stoicism reading for my husband and I.

Thank you for your blog and also for the book list, which is turning my financial life (and philosophy in a completely new direction. I read Your Money or Your Life this week (which I really enjoyed) and am currently enjoying Beyond Wealth. Thanks again.

Please have a look at The Craftsman, by Richard Sennett, ISBN 978-0-141-02209-3, which explores the desire to do a job well for its own sake and as a template for living.
This is in contrast to pure competition where barely-adequate, first to market, is the maxim. The book is provocative with emphasis on pride in good work, which eventually transcends its maker. I took a lot of support from this book when I still had to operate in the corporate world.

Read “The Great Crash 1929”, by John Kenneth Galbraith for a great lesson on the perils of overleveraging / margin. Written in 1955, he goes back and looks at the mania leading up to the great crash that preceded (but did not cause) the Great Depression. Also, how lack of transparency in financial corporations. And how collusion can bring down very large institutions. Galbraith is a very good, and funny, writer. It is interesting to see how primitive Wall Street rules were at the time.

MMM-
I have found your writing and world views quite valuable since I began reading your blog last year – thank you!

If you haven’t read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (philosophy), I suggest you take a look. It’s a relatively quick read, especially considering the big ideas it delves in to. It provides some of the ‘why’ we’re in the position we are in as a civilization, and in my opinion your drive to save the world through your way of life aligns quite well with this text.

MMM,
I am retiring early in October mostly due to the principles found here….
(and of course some good saving and investing over the years) but your blog and showed me I could do it with a few changes in my life!
Thanks for the help!
Don

Sebastian Junger’s Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging is a book that would also be of interest to Mustachians. It draws attention to a fundamental disconnect between our evolutionary history (we evolved in the form of small groups) with a focus on community values (altruistically protecting the tribe, sharing food) and the conditions we associate with modern, affluent societies. His specific inspiration is the often difficult time soldiers have reentering civilian society after serving in war, where for a brief time the arbitrary social, racial, and religious distinctions that exist among the members of a platoon are ignored in favor of the survival of the platoon as a whole. Adversities associated with war but also natural disasters naturally elicit a collective focus on group survival. Whereas modern society equates the meaning of life with the acquisition of personal wealth and power; primitive societies emphasize the survival of the tribe, promote self sacrifice and stigmatize hoarding and cowardice.

such great book recommendations. I recently read simple path to wealth and found it tremendously helpful. It was simple yet everything you seem to know about investing. I have been thinking o reading The Intelligent Investor but a little hesitant how i would understand the all time genius Benjamin Graham who also happens to be Buffets mentor. Is it really for smart brains and advanced investors only? did you find it helpful even when you were just starting out

connect

welcome new readers

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